6 High Protein Meals Works Best For Fat Loss

The absolutely best diet for losing fat and retaining muscle mass is of course a diet that is relatively rich in proteins - where 30% instead of 15 % of your energy comes from protein. Nutritionists at Skidmore College in the US have found a way to make a protein-rich diet even more effective: by increasing the number of meals you eat per day.

The researchers will soon publish their findings in Obesity. They conducted an experiment involving 30 inactive overweight people, average age of 45, that lasted for 2 periods of 28 days [so in total 56 days].

During the first period the subjects ate exactly the same number of calories every day as they burned [BAL]; during the second period they were only given 75 percent of the number of calories they burned daily [NEG].

One group ate according to traditional nutritionists' advice: three meals a day, with 15 percent of the calories coming from protein, 60 percent from carbohydrates and 15 percent from fat [TD3].

The second group was put on a protein-rich diet. The energy was derived for 35 percent from protein, 45 percent from carbohydrates and 20 percent from fat. The test subjects in the second group ate three meals a day [HP3].

The third group was also put on a protein-rich diet. The test subjects in the third group ate not three but six meals a day [HP6].

As expected, the subjects in the high-protein diet groups lost more fat than the group on the traditional diet. But fat loss was faster in the high-protein group that ate six times a day. Moreover, this group gained more lean body mass, while the high-protein group that ate three times a day lost a small amount of lean body mass.

During the experiment the researchers measured the amount of calories that the subjects burned after a meal a couple of times. They used the results to produce the figure below. It shows the relationship between calorie intake and the calories burned by the body.

As you can see, a protein-rich diet boosts energy expenditure, and this effect is boosted by eating six rather than three meals a day.

"When expressed as a ratio of total kcals expended to kcals consumed, the increase in thermogenesis was more pronounced in HP6 (128%) compared to HP3 and TD3", the researchers write. "Extrapolating to all meals eaten during the BAL and NEG period (56 days total) would result in an expenditure of 3444.0, 3259.2, and 6333.6 total kcals for TD3, HP3, and HP6, respectively, and clearly highlights the profound impact of increased dietary protein and meal frequency on thermogenesis and body composition."

Looking at the numbers, everybody in the test was pretty fat to begin with and it's been my experience that nearly every method works for far above 20 percent. It's the next ten percent that's the tough fat.

I don't care if it is a little more effective b/c I'm not eating 6x a day. The inconvenience is not worth it imo. LG/IF FTW!!

Oh come on you don't like sneaking to the break room at work 4/5 times a day to jam a cold steamed piece of chicken down your throat. My favorite time of the day is meal six because your sitting there trying to jam that last damn piece of food down your throat and meal 3,4,5 are still being digested. Your eyes begin to water and that chick you've been hitting on at work walks in to see you gagging on some cold potatoes. Drool starts falling out of the side of your mouth and you know you just lost every chance of getting with her, but adding that 5 extra pounds to your bench next month is so much more worth it then seeing her titties.....

Oh come on you don't like sneaking to the break room at work 4/5 times a day to jam a cold steamed piece of chicken down your throat. My favorite time of the day is meal six because your sitting there trying to jam that last damn piece of food down your throat and meal 3,4,5 are still being digested. Your eyes begin to water and that chick you've been hitting on at work walks in to see you gagging on some cold potatoes. Drool starts falling out of the side of your mouth and you know you just lost every chance of getting with her, but adding that 5 extra pounds to your bench next month is so much more worth it then seeing her titties.....

Hahaahaa this exact **** happened to me today. girl walks in the break room.. I'm eating an 8 oz baked chicken breast like a cave man with a fork stuck in it, no plate. we both just awkwardly smile

Oh come on you don't like sneaking to the break room at work 4/5 times a day to jam a cold steamed piece of chicken down your throat. My favorite time of the day is meal six because your sitting there trying to jam that last damn piece of food down your throat and meal 3,4,5 are still being digested. Your eyes begin to water and that chick you've been hitting on at work walks in to see you gagging on some cold potatoes. Drool starts falling out of the side of your mouth and you know you just lost every chance of getting with her, but adding that 5 extra pounds to your bench next month is so much more worth it then seeing her titties.....

Exactly.... If you eat at say 10AM, that food is still there at noon... Hell even probably at 2 pm.
All your doing is packing more food into the same space , so technically you just ate one big ass meal before dinner...